Ivan Milat's Coast brother regrets keeping family name

WHILE many of us were glued to Catching Milat on Sunday night, one Coast man won't be going out of his way to catch the telemovie based on backpacker murderer Ivan Milat.

Ivan's brother Alex, of Palmwoods, one of 14 Milat siblings, said he wouldn't be making any effort to watch the dramatisation of the barbaric murders of seven young backpackers in the late 1980s and early 1990s carried out by his younger brother.

"It's made to make money, a lot of it is crap," Alex (pictured right) said.

"No one asked me a question at all about it.

"Movies are made to entertain people and they'll never tell the truth when they can make more from a lie."

Alex Milat admits it has been difficult keeping the Milat name.Chris Mccormack D

Now in his mid-70s, Alex spoke of having a few regrets following the furore when Ivan was charged and eventually sentenced to seven consecutive terms of life imprisonment in 1996.

"The first day I should've changed my name, it would definitely have been a better life.

"It'd amaze you the problems I've had with having this name."

Alex said it was frustrating that the telemovie was commissioned by a major commercial station and he was apprehensive about the added spotlight it would bring.

"All this does is give me a hard time," he said.

"You couldn't believe the s**t I'll get for the next 12 months.

"It's not a lot, but believe me, there are people that think everything on TV is the truth."

Ivan Milat was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences after a massive police operation to find the serial killer responsible for the murders in the Belanglo State Forest that captured national and international attention.

Alex admitted he did not keep contact with his jailed brother any more, and only kept in touch with a handful of his siblings.

"Half of them didn't use the name afterward, that should tell you something," he said.

"I talk to a couple of them. I don't talk to Boris.''

Alex said he no longer had the desire to contact Ivan.

He said the strict vetting process of the letters and the similarity between all the correspondence he received from his brother in the past was enough to dull his desire to maintain contact.